BLUE CORN/CRUCITA GONZALEZ CALABAZA (NATIVE AMERICAN, 1921-1999)
American (San Ildefonso Pueblo, New Mexico), mid-20th century, polychrome ware. Having feather pattern and signed to underside.

Christened "Blue Corn" by Maria Martinez' sister, Calabaza was first introduced to pottery making at the age of three and learned the art of black ware from Martinez herself. She attended school at the pueblo in her early years, then at Santa Fe Indian School before the death of her parents, upon which event the young artist was sent to live with relatives and began taking housekeeping positions in Beverly Hills. At 20, she married Santiago "Sandy" Calabaza, a silversmith from Santo Domingo Pueblo, who returned with her to San Ildefonso, where they began to raise their family - Santiago quitting his job to help her carve, paint and design her pots. During the early 40s, the artist kept a housecleaning position in Los Alamos for J. Robert Oppenheimer, the war's end seeming as a catalyst to Blue Corn's full dedication of herself to her craft in her birthplace of San Ildefonso.

by the late 1960s she had established herself as a leader in polychrome styles, spearheading the re-introduction of polychrome fine whiteware. She has received critical acclaim from several publications including The Wall Street Journal, and her work can be found in the Smithsonian Institution and other leading museums throughout America and Europe as well as in private collections. She has won more than 60 awards, and in 1981 received what is considered the greatest accolade a New Mexico artist can attain, the 8th Annual New Mexico Governors Award.
2 in. (5.1 cm.)

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